After exposé, Black Car Fund asks that finances be kept from public

The New York Black Car Operators' Injury Compensation Fund is trying to tint its windows.

The semi-private benefit fund—which is bankrolled by surcharges on every Uber, Lyft, Via and corporate Lincoln Town Car ride in the state—is seeking to shield its most recent financial disclosures from public view.

The request, made of the state Legislature, follows a Crain's report in April that questioned the legality of its expenditures.

Created by state law in 1999 to provide workers' compensation coverage to a class of independent contractors, the Black Car Fund in recent years has spent roughly $2 million on political contributions and lobbying, potentially in violation of its charter documents, Crain's found. The fund's budget—the vast majority of which goes to paying drivers who are injured on the job—swelled when vehicles operating for Uber were deemed black cars and New Yorkers' use of the app took off beginning in 2014.

The Black Car Fund's establishing statute obligates it to provide a certified accounting of its revenue and expenditures to the governor's office and state Legislature by May 1 of each year. For its April story, Crain's obtained the fund's financial reports for 2013 through 2017 from the Assembly via Freedom of Information Law request.

But when Crain's sought earlier this month to obtain the documents due this year, the Assembly replied that the fund has requested to conceal its financial reports from such requests on the grounds that they contain confidential details that could compromise the nonprofit's viability.

"The Fund requested an exemption from disclosure on the ground of 'trade secrets or proprietary information which, if disclosed, would cause substantial harm to the subject enterprise,'" Assembly Records Access Officer Robin Marilla wrote in response to the latest Crain's inquiry. "We are currently reviewing this request."

According to the most recent filing Crain's obtained, the fund reaped $93 million in 2017 from its legally mandated 2.5% excise on for-hire vehicle rides. It is unclear what trade secrets or proprietary information would be in the disclosure for 2018 that was not in the previous reports, or what in those previous reports meets that criteria.

In the April report, Crain's revealed that the Fund had purchased a Long Island City warehouse, transferred the deed to a limited liability company and donated $165,200 from the LLC to state politicians. Crain's could not ascertain how the donations complied with campaign laws barring pass-through contributions.

One of the beneficiaries of the donations was Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who selects one of the fund's board members. The LLC donated a total of $20,000 to Heastie's political action committee and gave thousands more to members of his Democratic Party conference.

A spokesman for the Black Car Fund did not respond to requests for comment.

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